Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2004; 9: 05–6
To evaluate the effectiveness of treatment with vs. without acupuncture in patients with chronic neck pain in routine care.
Patients ≥ 18 years with chronic neck pain (symptom duration > 6 months) were randomly allocated to receive up to 15 acupuncture sessions over 3 months (ACU) or to a control group (CON) receiving no acupuncture. Patients not consenting to randomisation received acupuncture treatment (NR-ACU). All patients were allowed to receive usual medical care in addition to the study treatment. In standardised questionnaires sociodemographic data, ‘neck pain and disability’ (Neck Pain and Disability Scale; NPDS) and health-related quality of life (SF-36) at baseline and after 3 months were assessed.
A total of 13 846 patients were included (67.8% female, 49.8 ± 13.1 years, 32.2% male, 53.1 ± 12.9 years). Among these 1753 were allocated to ACU, 1698 to CON and 10 395 to NR-ACU. After 3 months of treatment NPDS proved more pronounced (P < 0.001) in the ACU compared to the CON group (NPDS baseline to 3 months: ACU from 56.4 ± 15.2 to 39.6 ± 17.5; CON from 54.5 ± 15.8 to 51.2 ± 17.7). After 3 months the quality of life differed significantly between both randomised groups (P < 0.001), also in favour of ACU. There were no significant differences between ACU and NR-ACU for the NPDS and quality of life after 3 months.
In patients with chronic neck pain, acupuncture in addition to routine care showed a significant and clinically relevant improvement of NPDS and quality of life compared to treatment without acupuncture.
